Misfit Toys
by Avii Sohen
Summary: Every school has them, that group of oddballs no one wants to talk to. But a little known fact about these oddballs, they are some if the kindest and saddest people you will ever meet. AU Spazzshipping Mild Softshipping
1. Chapter 1

Misfit Toys

In every school, there's that one lunch table that's populated by the schools weirdos. The unpopular kids that people loathe. Those people that are different from the rest. The misfit toys. A lesser known secret about misfit toys, is that they are some of the best people you'll ever meet. They're also some of the saddest.

Old Eastern highschool had a small group of misfit toys. Two boys and one girl. Even amongst themselves they looked strange. They didn't look compatible. You would have never guessed this group of drastically different people could be friends. What did they have in common?

As it turns out, the foreign kid, the guy whose brother killed someone, and the girl who was in the hospital too much, had more in common than anyone would have suspected. This is their story.

The boy whose brother killed someone

Bakura had hair the color of clouds and eyes the color of dirt. He also had a twin brother with matching features. Ryou and Bakura were identical in every way. Their mannerisms, their speech patterns, their clothing choices, everything was the same. No one could tell them apart. There were even rumors that their own parents couldn't tell them apart.

Bakura and Ryou didn't have many friends. They didn't need them, they had each other. The twins were in a world of their own, distant from everyone else. They understood each other, and if others didn't get them, it didn't matter.

As they grew older and entered eighth grade, there was one difference between the twins. Of course, only the twins could see this difference, the rest of the world was blind. Bakura was gay. Ryou was not. Bakura wanted to keep it a secret. And so, the one difference between them was kept hidden, tucked away. It stayed in the realm of the twins.

Ryou never found himself attracted to any girls or boys. It didn't particularly bother him or anyone else. Bakura however, was a different story.

Joey Wheeler was a loud, rough and tumble, popular boy. He was captain of the basketball team and had a swanky Brooklyn accent that every girl adored. While Ryou didn't see anything particularly special about him, Bakura thought he was wonderful. For about a month, Bakura watched Joey from afar. Secretly laughing at all his jokes, watching all of his games and cringing whenever a girl tried to get close to him. Joey never had a girlfriend. His favorite color was yellow. He had a sister named Serenity. She was a year younger that Joey, but had skipped a grade. Bakura knew everything about Joey, and Joey didn't even know he existed.

One day, Ryou got the flu. Bakura came to school, feeling incomplete and lonely without his mirror image. During fifth period history, the whole class was assigned a project which they were required to work in pairs. It was by a stroke of fate that Ryou wasn't there to be Bakura's partner. It was also by a stroke if fate that Joey was late for class that day. By the time he showed up everyone had a partner. Everyone except Bakura.

Joey was less than thrilled to be working with one of the freaky twins. Bakura wasn't sure if he was happy or terrified.

"So... which one are you?" Joey asked.

"Oh I'm Bakura," Bakura answered, his voice coming out far shakier than he had meant it too.

"Damn, I got is wrong. Thought you was Ryou," Joey said.

"I get that a lot," Bakura said, scratching the back of his head. For once in his life he wished he wasn't part of a matched set.

After a seemingly endless awkward silence Joey cleared his throat and asked, "Can we work on the project at your place?"

"Oh, um, Ryou's sick with the flu so it's probably a better idea to go to your place," Bakura said.

"Oh," Joey said, trying to mask his disappointment.

Bakura was puzzled, but didn't say anything. He didn't want Joey thinking he was nosy. People are allowed to have their secrets, after all he had his.

A week later, Joey and Bakura turned in their project. They got a D. Ryou recovered from the flu and came back to school. Bakura swore nothing happened between himself and Joey, but Ryou knew better. Bakura had changed somehow. He had seen something or done something in the week that Ryou was gone. And Ryou knew that Joey must have been involved.

It was a Wednesday night in the middle of January. The phone rang at 1:00 am. Ryou answered it to hear Bakura's voice on the other end.

"Ryou, I'm in a bit of a mess," Bakura said, panting heavily into the phone.

"Where are you?" Ryou said his voice filling with panic, "What happened?!"

Bakura was at Joey's house. After locating the address, Ryou ran to the Wheeler residence. He burst through the door. He didn't see Bakura or Joey, but he did see Joey's sister Serenity. He ran up to her. She was crying.

"What happened?" Ryou asked, confused and out of breathe, "Where's Bakura?"

His question only seemed to make Serenity more distraught. She grabbed Ryou around the waist and cried into his shirt. Ryou held her and waited for her to calm down. Serenity was one of the most level headed people he knew, what had caused her to be so scared?

Just then, Ryou heard someone tumble down the stairs.

"Joey!" He heard Bakura shout.

"Bakura what's happening?!" Ryou shouted, still holding a terrified Serenity.

"Ryou! Come in here and help me!" Bakura barked from the next room.

Ryou grabbed Serenity by the wrist and dragged her into the stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs was a battered and bleeding, barely conscious Joey. Bakura was crouching over him, concern bubbling in his eyes.

"Bakura, what happened?" Ryou asked, his voice full of exasperation.

"I did something bad, Ryou," Bakura said quietly.

"We need to get Joey to the hospital," Ryou said anxiously, "You can tell me what happened later."

"Ryou can we not call the police yet?" Bakura said, his voice edging with despair. It was then that Ryou knew his brother had for something truly horrible.

Ryou eventually did call the police. Joey and Serenity were taken to a hospital. So was Bakura. In the hospital Bakura explained what had happened.

When he had gone to Joey's house the first time, he watched as Joeys father punched him in the gut and kicked him to the ground. Joey told him to stay silent and protect Serenity. He did. As the week went by he spent a lot of time at Joey's house. He helped Joey with household chores and served as another punching bag for Joey's father. He found out that his love was not unrequited. They kissed in the doorway of Joey's house when they thought no one was looking, but apparently Joey's dad saw. The following night, he pulled a knife on Joey and beat him half to death. Joey called a Bakura on his cell screaming for help.

Bakura came and did what he had to do. He protected Joey and Serenity. But he killed their father in the process.

"I did everything. Joey never hurt anyone, but he told the police he helped. We're both going to jail now and it's all my fault!"

Ryou looked at his brother in shock. He was out sick for a week an he had missed so much.

"Am I a monster?" Bakura muttered staring at his hands.

"Bakura don't talk like that! Anyone would have done what you did. He was going to kill Joey!" Ryou said, his voice filled with alarm.

"Would you have done it? If it had been you, could you have killed a man?" Bakura whispered in a quavering voice.

Ryou was silent. He didn't have an answer. Maybe, they weren't as alike as they seemed.

Bakura and Joey went to a juvenile penitentiary. They were to stay there for four years. Ryou and Serenity visit them every week.

Ryou and Serenity went back to school. Serenity was doted upon. People offered her condolences and gifts. How much pain she must be in, having her father murdered right before her eyes. What her classmates didn't know was how cruel and abusive her father was.

Ryou and Bakura were supposedly alike in every way. So that meant that Ryou must be a psychopathic murderer just like his brother. That's all they saw when they looked at him. A mistake his brother had made.

Serenity saw different. She didn't see a murderer, she saw the boy who held her when she was crying. She saw a boy who kept a calm level head as her world was falling apart at its seams. She saw Ryou, not Bakura. She was the first person able to tell them apart.

A/N I have this crazy notion that in an AU setting Ryou, Marik and Serenity would be good friends for weird reasons. I do plan on continuing this fic, so stay tuned!

Next Chapter: That foreign kid

R&R!

~Olivia


	2. Chapter 2

Ryou and Serenity sat in the back of the classroom. Both of them shared the same tired eyes and worn expressions. Lately, every day was becoming a challenge. They were both exhausted, and with good reason. Serenity had to move into her mom's house. While she was glad to be free of her father, she missed her brother terribly.

Ryou was even worse. He was alone in almost every way. His parents couldn't stand to look at him so they made themselves scarce around the house. Everyone in the school, discarding Serenity, were terrified of him. Some students were even cruel. They called him a monster, a freak, a psychopath. He could have dealt with that of Bakura had been around. But Bakura wasn't around, he was in jail.

Visiting Bakura in jail was a weekly hell Ryou faced. Every part of Bakura seemed to bristle, and his hair grew long and unkempt. He became aggressive and defensive. When Bakura and Ryou looked at each other it was no longer like looking in a mirror, it was like looking in a time machine. Bakura saw what he was in the past and Ryou saw what he feared would become of his future.

Serenity saw the same thing happen to her brother, although the change wasn't as drastic. Joey had always been aggressive and defensive because he had to be. The only difference was he was no longer protecting her, he was protecting himself.

One thing was clear to Ryou and Serenity. Things were never going to be the same. And change might be a demon they are not ready to face.

"Class we have a new student," the teacher announced, interrupting Ryou and Serenity's spiral of heavy thoughts, "This is Marik Ishtar."

Twenty-six pairs of eyes looked at Marik. Marik looked back at them. He smiled. He wanted more than anything to be liked.

"Is that a guy or a girl?" Someone whispered, a little too loudly, from the back of the room.

Marik's face reddened slightly at the question, "I'm a guy."

A few guys snickered and a few girls had shocked expressions plastered across their faces. It was clear that the majority if the class had thought Marik was a girl. Ryou rolled his eyes, "Poor kid," he thought, "they're gonna tear him apart." A small part of him was happy. If his peers were focused on harassing Marik, they wouldn't be harassing him.

Ryou and Serenity went through the next few weeks attending regular classes and watching as Marik was beaten into the ground by every bully in the school. They didn't interfere. They stayed in their own little bubble, wearing fake smiles and exchanging friendly small talk. Ryou and Serenity pretended to be happy to ease the burden on the other, because they both believed the other had it worse than they did.

It was a rainy April day. Serenity and her mom had a fight the night before. Serenity never wanted to speak to her mother ever again, and was fairly certain the feeling was mutual. But the sickening reality was that Serenity had no one else to turn too. And the worst part was that he was going to have to put on another fake smile and brave the day, for Ryou's sake.

Meanwhile, Ryou wasn't fairing much better. His parents hasn't returned home for three days. He felt like a doll trapped in a dollhouse far too big for him. He wanted more than anything just to leave home and start over somewhere far away. No one would miss him if he were gone. Well, no one except Serenity, he decided. And so, for Serenity's sake, he stayed and pretended he was content with his lonely existence.

They passed through first, second and third periods with seemingly no problems. But then fourth period, lunch, was a different story.

Ryou and Serenity sat at a lonely table near the main office. They both unpacked their lunches and an unusual silence passed between them. Neither one wanted to be the first to start conversation because neither one had the energy. They were exhausted. Pretending is hard.

"Why are you crying?" Ryou asked, concern in his voice.

Serenity truthfully hadn't realized she was crying. She turned away from Ryou and tried to control herself, in vain. The tears just kept flowing.

Ryou grabbed her by the shoulders, "Shhhhhhh! It's ok!" He whispered.

She shook her head violently, trying to free herself from Ryou's grasp.

"Everything is fine, Serenity."

Serenity looked at Ryou. "Everything is not fine," she said in a small shaky voice.

And that's when the floodgates opened. Everything was not fine. Any false reality they had held was gone. All that was left was the truth. And the truth hurt.

Waves of pain washed over Ryou and Serenity. Every friendly conversation, every smile, every laugh; meaningless. It hit them like a silent earthquake, rocking their world spinning everything out if control. Ryou felt nauseous. Serenity wouldn't stop crying.

The door to the main office swung open. Marik walked out holding a tissue to his face. Someone had punched him in the face and his nose was bleeding. He walked into the threshold of the cafeteria. Out if the corner of his eye he saw a table with two people sitting at it, a boy and a girl. The girl was crying, hard, and the boy was just sitting there, his eyes glazed over. Marik walked over to the table.

Once he reached the head of the table he stared at them. They turned to look at them. Their faces were both equally as hopeless. Marik shrugged his shoulders.

"Ya know, it'll get better," he said quietly. This coming from the kid who had just been punched in the face by a bully whose name he didn't even know. This coming from the kid who people laughed at every time he spoke. This coming from the kid who looked like he had it worse than anyone. It'll get better, he said. Ryou and Serenitu clung to those words.

Marik sat with Ryou and Serenity every day after that. People gradually stopped bothering him. Ryou and Serenity stopped lying to themselves, and never started lying to Marik. Marik new the whole ugly truth about their lives, and that was ok. In fact, it was a relief. Someone knowing the truth is what saved Ryou and Serenity. Marik, the listener, the comforter, the foreign kid.

A/N Ah, yes, Marik's chapter. I actually wrote two different versions of this chapter and thought this one flowed better with the rest of the story. What do you think?

Happy Holidays and. Merry New Year, dear reader!

Next chapter: The girl who was in the hospital a lot. Should be fun!

R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

Who is Serenity?

Serenity is six broken ribs, a fractured tibia, and more bruises and gashes than she can count.

Serenity is a worried older brother in the hospital waiting room.

Serenity is an excuse for every injury, a fall down the stairs, a bike accident, a cooking mishap and a a quiet smile, agreeing with everything her father says; all lies.

Serenity is screaming as she watches her brother get beaten within an inch of his life, and then watching his boyfriend kill her father.

Serenity is clinging to Ryou, watching her world disintegrate and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

Serenity is walking rigidly next to Ryou as they enter a juvenile penitentiary on visiting day.

Serenity is a pillbox; one anti-depressant, one anti-anxiety and one to counteract the side effects of the first two pills.

Serenity is a weekly appointment with a child psychologist. Serenity is slowly getting better. Serenity hasn't been to the hospital in weeks.

Serenity is a hateful note crumpled in a ball and thrown on the floor. Serenity is watching Marik, note in hand, find the perpetrator and scare the shit out of them. Serenity is thanking Marik, but knowing deep down that she doesn't need to be protected anymore.

Serenity is a seat across from Ryou and next to Marik in fourth period lunch. Serenity is a year younger than her lunch mates and smarter than both of them. Serenity a good friend who would be greatly missed.

Serenity is in her bedroom watching her two best friends do a dramatic reading from a badly written porn novel, laughing so hard she thinks she might die.

Serenity is sitting in the roof of Ryou's house listening intently as he points to the North Star and Orion's Belt.

Serenity is getting her ass kicked in Mario kart in Marik's basement.

Serenity is sprinting out of the school building on the last day if school, Marik in front of her, Ryou at her heels, tasting freedom in the summer air.

Serenity is overcoming adversary and making the words "It will get better," a reality. Serenity has been through hell and back, but she does not let that define her. Serenity is strong and wise beyond her years, so much so people forget that she is still a child at heart. Serenity is an open mind and a soft smile. Serenity is proving that a label doesn't define you.

**A/N Well that concludes this fanfic! I enjoyed writing this a lot and I'm fairly satisfied with the result. This fic for me was about taking characters that are usually victimized in other stories and showing, yes, they've been through horrible traumatic things, but they are strong enough to overcome it. I hope you enjoyed reading!**

**As always, R&R!**


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